Help:IPA
}} Here is a basic key to the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. For the smaller set of symbols that is sufficient for English, see . Several rare IPA symbols are not included; these are found in the main IPA article. For the Manual of Style guideline for pronunciation, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation).'' For each IPA symbol, an English example is given where possible; here "RP" stands for Received Pronunciation. The foreign languages that are used to illustrate additional sounds are primarily the ones most likely to be familiar to English speakers, French, German, and Spanish. For symbols not covered by those, recourse is taken to the populous languages Mandarin Chinese, Hindustani, Arabic, and Russian. For sounds still not covered, other smaller but well-known languages are used, such as Swahili, Turkish, and Zulu. The left-hand column displays the symbols like this: . Click on the speaker icon to hear the sound; click on the symbol itself for a dedicated article with a more complete description and examples from multiple languages. All the sounds are spoken more than once, and the consonant sounds are spoken once followed by a vowel and once between vowels. Main symbols The symbols are arranged by similarity to letters of the Latin alphabet. Symbols which do not resemble any Latin letter are placed at the end. } | English a'''dds, Italian ''z'ero | |- | | English j'u'''dg'e'' | |- | | Polish nie'dź'wiedź "bear" | Like dʒ, but with more of a y-sound. |- | | Polish dż'em'' "jam" | Like dʒ with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- id="E" ! colspan="3" | ^ top E |- | | Spanish f'e;'' French cl'é | |- | | German Kl'ee'' | Long . Similar to English h'''e'y'', before the y sets in. |- | | English ''a'bove, Hindi ठग (thug) "thief" | (Only occurs in English when not stressed.) |- | | American English runn'er'' | |- | | English b'''e't'' | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ɛ̃ ] | French [[Agen|''Ag'''en]], ''v'in'', m'ain; Polish ''mi'ę'so | Nasalized . |- | | RP b'''ir'd'' (long) | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ɝ ] | American English b'''ir'd'' | |- id="F" ! colspan="3" | ^ top F |- | | English f'un | |- | | see under J | |- | | see under J | |- id="G" ! colspan="3" | ^ top G |- | | English '''g'a'''g | (Should look like 6px. No different from a Latin "g") |- | | Swahili U'''g'anda'' | Like said with a gulp. |- | | | Like , but further back, in the throat. Found in Persian and some Arabic dialects for , as in Gaddafi. |- | | see under Z | English bei'g'e. |- id="H" ! colspan="3" | ^ top H |- | | American English h'ouse | |- | | English a'''h'ead,'' when said quickly. | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ʰ ] | | The extra puff of air in English top compared to stop stɒp, or to French or Spanish . |- | | Arabic محمد Mu'h'ammad | Far down in the throat, like , but stronger. |- | | see under U | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ɮ ] | see under L | |- id="I" ! colspan="3" | ^ top I |- | | French v'''i'lle'', Spanish [[Valladolid|''Valladol'i'''d]] | |- | | English s'ea | Long . |- | | English s'''i't'' | |- | | Russian ты "you" | Often used for unstressed English ros'e's. |- id="J" ! colspan="3" | ^ top J |- | | English y'es, hallelu'j'ah, German J'''unge | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ʲ ] | Russian Ленин | Indicates a sound is more y-like. |- | | Spanish ca'y'o (some dialects) | Like , but stronger. |- | | Turkish ''g'ör "see", Czech d'''íra "hole" | Between English ''d'ew (RP) and ar'g'ue. Sometimes used instead for dʒ in languages like Hindi. |- | | Swahili j'''ambo | Like said with a gulp. |- id="K" ! colspan="3" | ^ top K |- | | English ki'ck, s'k'''ip | |- id="L" ! colspan="3" | ^ top L |- | | English '''l'eaf'' | |- | | English woo'l Russian ма'л'ый "small" | "Dark" el. |- | | Welsh ll'wyd "grey" Zulu hl'ala'' "sit" | By touching roof of mouth with tongue and giving a giving a quick breath out. Found in Welsh placenames like ''Ll'ango'll'en and Ll'ane'll'i'' and Nelson Mandela's Xhosa name Roli'hl'a'''hl'a.'' |- | | | Like with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- | | | A flapped , like and said together. |- | | Zulu ''dl'a'' "eat" | Rather like and , or and , said together. |- id="M" ! colspan="3" | ^ top M |- | | English 'm'''i'm'e'' | |- | | English ''sy'm'phony | Like , but lips touch teeth as they do in . |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ɯ ] | see under W | |- | | see under W | |- id="N" ! colspan="3" | ^ top N |- | | English '''n'u'''n | |- | | English si'ng'' | |- | | Spanish ''Peñ'a, French champa'gn'e'' | Rather like English ''ca'ny'on. |- | | Hindi वरुण [[Varuna|''Varu'n'''a]] | Like with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- | | Castilian Spanish Do'n''' Juan'' | Like , but further back, in the throat. |- id="O" ! colspan="3" | ^ top O |- | | Spanish n'''o','' French eau | |- | | German B'''o'den'', French [[Vosges|''V'o'''sges]] | Long . Somewhat reminiscent of English n'''o'.'' |- | | German [[Oldenburg (disambiguation)|''O'ldenburg]], French [[Garonne|''Gar'o'''nne]] | |- | | RP l'aw, French [[Limoges|''Lim'o'ges]] | Long . |- | | French [[Lyon|''Ly'on]], s'on; Polish ''w'ą'ż'' | Nasalized . |- | | French ''f'eu'', ''bœu'fs | Like , but with the lips rounded like . |- | | German [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|''G'oe'the'']], French [[Deûle|''D'eû'le'']], n'''eu'tre'' | Long . |- | | Swedish d'''u'm'' | Halfway between and . Similar to but with the tongue slightly more down and front. |- | | French b'œu'f'', ''s'eu'l'', German [[Göttingen|''G'ö'ttingen]] | Like , but with the lips rounded like . |- | | French œu'vre, h'''eu're'' | Long . |- | | French br'un, parf'um'' | Nasalized . |- | | see under other | |- | | see under other |- id="P" ! colspan="3" | ^ top P |- | | English pi'p | |- id="Q" ! colspan="3" | ^ top Q |- | | Arabic [[Qur'an|'Q'ur’ān]] | Like , but further back, in the throat. |- id="R" ! colspan="3" | ^ top R |- | | Spanish pe'rr'o, Scots bo'rr'ow | "Rolled R". (Generally used for English when there's no need to be precise.) |- | | Spanish pe'r'o, Tagalog dali'r'i'', Malay ''kaba'r'', American English ki'tt'y/ki'dd'ie | "Flapped R". |- | | | A trill in the back of the throat. Found for /r/ in some conservative registers of French. |- | | Hindi साड़ी "sari" | Like flapped , but with the tongue curled back. |- | | RP bo'rr'ow | |- | | American English bo'rr'ow, butt'er'' | Like , but with the tongue curled or pulled back, as pronounced by many English speakers. |- | | French [[Paris|Pa'r'is]], German [[Bernhard Riemann|''R'iemann]] | Said back in the throat, but not trilled. |- id="S" ! colspan="3" | ^ top S |- | | English ''s'a'''ss' | |- | | English 'sh'oe'' | |- | | Swedish sj'u'' | |- | | Mandarin 少林 ''([[Shaolin Monastery|'Sh'àolín]]), Russian [[Alexander Pushkin|Пу'ш'кин (Pu'sh'kin)]] | Acoustically similar to , but with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- id="T" ! colspan="3" | ^ top T |- | | English to't', s't'op | |- | | Hindi ठग (thug) "thief" | Like , but with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- | | English ca'ts','' Russian 'ц'арь 'ts'ar'' | |- | | English '''ch'ur'''ch | |- | | Mandarin 北京 , Polish ci'ebie "you" | Like tʃ, but with more of a y-sound. |- | | Mandarin '''''zh, Polish cz'as | Like tʃ with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- id="U" ! colspan="3" | ^ top U |- | | French v'''ou's'' "you" | |- | | French [[Rocquencourt|''Rocquenc'ou'rt'']], German [[Michael Schumacher|''Sch'u'''macher]], close to RP f'''oo'd'' | Long . |- | | English f'''oo't'', German B'''u'ndesrepublik'' | |- | | Australian English f'''oo'd'' (long) | Like , but with the lips rounded as for . |- | | French l'''u'i'' | Like and said together. |- | | see under W | |- id="V" ! colspan="3" | ^ top V |- | | English '''v'er'''ve | |- | | Hindi वरुण "Varuna" | Between and . Used by some Germans and Russians for v/w, and by some speakers of British English for r''. |- | | Arabic / Swahili 'gh'ali'' "expensive", Spanish sue'g'ro | Sounds rather like French or between and . |- | | Mandarin [[Henan|H'é'nán]] | Like but without the lips rounded, something like a cross of and . |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ʌ ] | see under A | |- id="W" ! colspan="3" | ^ top W |- | | English w'ow | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ʷ ] | English r'''ain | Indicates a sound has lip rounding, q'''u'ick.'' |- | | ''wh'at (some dialects) | like and said together |- | | Turkish kay'ı'k'' "caïque" | Like , but with the lips flat; something like . |- | | Spanish ''a'gu'a'' | |- id="X" ! colspan="3" | ^ top X |- | | Scottish English ''lo'ch, German [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Ba'ch']], Russian х'''ороший "good", Spanish ''j'oven | between and |- | | northern Standard Dutch [[Scheveningen|''S'ch'eveningen'']], Castilian Spanish Don '''J'uan'' | Like , but further back , in the throat. Some German and Arabic speakers have for . |- id="Y" ! colspan="3" | ^ top Y |- | | French r'''u'e'' | Like , but with the lips rounded as for . |- | | German [[Bernhard von Bülow|''B'ü'''low]], French s'û'r'' | Long . |- | | German [[Eisenhüttenstadt|''Eisenh'ü'ttenstadt]] | Like , but with the lips rounded as for . |- | | Italian ta'gli'atelle | Like , but more y-like. Rather like English vo'l'ume. |- | | see under U | |- | | see under V | |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ɣ ] | see under V | |- id="Z" ! colspan="3" | ^ top Z |- | | English z'oo's | |- | | English vi'si'on, French j'ournal | |- | | formal Russian жжёшь "you burn", Polish ź'''le | More y-like than , something like bei'ge'y. |- | | Mandarin 人民日报 ''R'énmín '''R'ìbào'' "People's Daily", Russian ж'''ир "fat" | Like with the tongue curled or pulled back. |- | style="padding-left: 16px" |[ ɮ ] | see under L | |- id="other" ! colspan="3" | ^ top Other |- | | English ''th'igh, ba'th | |- | | Japanese 富士 [[Mount Fuji|'F'uji]], Māori [[wharenui|'wh'arenui]] | Like , but with the lips not quite touching |- | | English uh-oh, Hawai'‘'i, German die Angst | The 'glottal stop', a catch in the breath. For some people, found in ''bu'tt'on , or between vowels across words: Deus ex machina ; in some nonstandard dialects, in a apple . |- | | Arabic عربي '''c'arabī'' "Arabic" | A light sound deep in the throat. |- | | English tsk-tsk! or tut-tut!, Zulu i'''c'i'c'''i "earring" | (The English click used for disapproval.) Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including . The Zimbabwean MP [[Welshman Ncube|N'c'''ube]] has this click in his name, as did [[Cetshwayo kaMpande|'C'etshwayo]]. |- | | English ''tchick! tchick!, Zulu i'''x'o'x'''o "frog" | (The English click used to urge on a horse.) Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including . Found in the name of the [[Xhosa people|'X'''hosa]]. |- | | Zulu ''i'q'a'''q'a'' "polecat" | (The English click used to imitate the trotting of a horse.) A hollow popping sound, like a cork pulled from a bottle. Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including . |} * These symbols are officially written with a tie linking them (e.g. ), and are also sometimes written as single characters (e.g. ) though the latter convention is no longer official. They are written without ligatures here to ensure correct display in all browsers. Diacritic marks All diacritics are here shown on a carrier letter such as the vowel a. Brackets Two types of brackets are commonly used to enclose transcriptions in the IPA: */Slashes/ indicate those meaningful sounds that are distinguished as the basic sounds of a language by native speakers; these are called phonemes. Changing the symbols between slashes would either change the identity of the word or produce nonsense. For example, since there is no meaningful difference to a native speaker between the two sounds written with the letter el in the word lulls, they are considered the same phoneme and so, using slashes, they are given the same symbol in IPA: . Similarly, Spanish la bomba is transcribed phonemically with two instances of the same b'' sound, , despite the fact that they sound different to a speaker of English. Thus a reader who is not familiar with the language in question might not know how to interpret these transcriptions more narrowly. *brackets indicate the narrower or more detailed phonetic qualities of a pronunciation, not taking into account the norms of the language to which it belongs; therefore, such transcriptions do not regard whether subtly different sounds in the pronunciation are actually noticeable or distinguishable to a native speaker of the language. Within square brackets is what a foreigner who does not know the structure of a language might hear as discrete units of sound. For instance, the English word ''lulls may be pronounced in a particular dialect more specifically as , with different letter el sounds at the beginning and end. This may be obvious to speakers of other languages that differentiate between the sounds and . Likewise, Spanish la bomba (pronounced without a pause) has two different b-sounds to the ears of foreigners or linguists— —though a native Spanish speaker might not be able to hear it. Omitting or adding such detail does not make a difference to the identity of the word, but helps to give a more precise pronunciation. A third kind of bracket is occasionally seen: *Either //double slashes// or |pipes| (or occasionally other conventions) show that the enclosed sounds are theoretical constructs that are not actually heard. (This is part of morphophonology.) For instance, most phonologists argue that the ''-s'' at the ends of verbs, which surfaces as either in talks or as in lulls , has a single underlying form. If they decide this form is an s, they would write it //s// (or |s|) to claim that phonemic and are essentially and underneath. If they were to decide it was essentially the latter, //z//, they would transcribe these words and . Lastly, * are used to set off orthography, as well as transliteration from non-Latin scripts. Thus , , the letter . Angle brackets are not supported by all fonts, so a template (shortcut ) is used to ensure maximal compatibility. (Comment there if you're having problems.) Rendering issues Voiced velar plosive These two characters should look similar: : If in the box to the left you see the symbol rather than a lower-case open-tail g, you may be experiencing a well-known bug in the font MS Reference Sans Serif; switching to another font may fix it. On your current font: , and in several other fonts: Affricates and double articulation The tie bar is intended to cover both letters of an affricate or doubly articulated consonant. However, if your browser uses Arial Unicode MS to display IPA characters, the following incorrectly formed sequences may look better than the correct order (letter, tie bar, letter) due to a bug in that font: :ts͡, tʃ͡, tɕ͡, dz͡, dʒ͡, dʑ͡, tɬ͡, kp͡, ɡb͡, ŋm͡. Here is how the proper configuration displays in your default IPA font: : , and in several other fonts: Angle brackets True angle brackets, , are unsupported by several common fonts. Here is how they display in your default settings: :⟨...⟩ (unformatted) : (default IPA font) : (default Unicode font), and in several specific fonts: See also *Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet *IPA charts for diphthongs in various languages *Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation)#Entering IPA characters Notes External links *IPA pronunciation chart *IPA Charts – pronunciation charts with an interactive chart of all IPA symbols with their sounds (Flash) *IPA Character Picker 7 - An easy-to-use web site for creating the complete set of IPA characters with any diacritic. Category:International Phonetic Alphabet help